Roots, the 1943 painting by Frida Kahlo, sold Wednesday night at Sotheby's auction house in New York for $5,616,000, a record for a Kahlo painting, and the most expensive work of Latin American art sold at auction.

Sotheby's did not release the winning bidder's identity at the buyer's request.

The previous record for a Kahlo painting was $5,065,750 in 2000, for a 1929 self-portrait.

The self-portrait in oils on metal shows the legendary Mexican artist lying on her side with leafy roots growing out of her body into a sere landscape.

Marilyn Oshman, a private collector from Houston, sold the painting after owning it for 25 years. Prior to that, Dolores Olmedo, trustee of the estates of both Kahlo and her husband, Diego Rivera, in Mexico City, owned the work.

Roots, 12 inches by 20 inches, is one of about 150 works Kahlo created.

The price includes Sotheby's commission — 20 percent of the first $200,000 of the hammer price and 12 percent on any amount in excess of $200,000.

Total sales for the evening, the first of two sessions, exceeded $18.6 million. That's approximately $5 million more than the previous record for a Latin American auction set in 1994, said Carmen Melian, director of Sotheby's Latin American department.